Fermentation Temp Issue

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Bartlebrewer

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First batch ever just completed: Hefeweizen, partial mash.

I pitched white labs liquid Hef yeast at 75 degrees but then for some reason, spaced and left my fermenting bucket in the kitchen for the first two days. It's been very hot and I'm sure the kitchen was 75-80 degrees which I now realize is too hot for proper fermentation.

The airlock bubbled vigorously the first two days and seemed to stop yesterday on the third. At that point I racked into glass and placed in my dark cool basement.

Should I expect problems? Any way to correct?

Love this forum and appreciate your help!
 
Nothing to do now, sorry. Go on and cool that beer, but the damage is pretty much done.

Most ales do best when fermented in the mid sixties. This is beer temperature, not air temperature - active fermentation is usually 5-10 degrees warmer than the ambient temp.

At high temperatures (you're looking at 80+ degrees for the fermenting beer, which is definitely high), you'll get a lot more esters and other off flavors. You will probably get some fuel alcohols, as well, which can give a hot, boozy taste... and lead to hangover headaches.

Try aging this beer longer than you normally would. The yeast will clean up some off flavors with time. There's no way, though, that this beer will be the same as it would have had you controlled your temperatures.

That being said, don't give up on it, either - even marginal homebrews are often still good (or at least drinkable) beer.
 
I'm a newer brewer, but I've brewed hefes more than any other style thus far. I've never fermented at that high a temperature, but I think your beer will still be drinkable.

Just be prepared for a bit more esters (banana) than you would have gotten had you fermented at cooler temps.
 
I'm a newer brewer, but I've brewed hefes more than any other style thus far. I've never fermented at that high a temperature, but I think your beer will still be drinkable.

Just be prepared for a bit more esters (banana) than you would have gotten had you fermented at cooler temps.

Or pear :) It depends on the yeast strain used. Different alcohols.
 
So to follow up...if you're brewing in the summer time in a non-central air cooled home where even the basement temp can get warm...what do people do to control their fermentation temperatures? Would you go so far as to place a bucket near an air conditioner?

Thanks guys for the knowledge.
 
I would dare to say that most homebrewers do not control their fermentation temps at all. But what most do, myself included, is brew with the seasons. My house is hot in the summer, so I brew wheat beers and Belgians. As they just love warm to hot fermentations.

In the winter, I brew dark lagers like bocks or Baltic porters and other cool fermenting English beers. Spring and fall, it's open game which usually keeps the fridge full during the two extreme seasons.
 
Swamp coolers are the poor mans choice. Get a large enough bucket to hold your fermentor (I got one at a local hardware store for $12), some people use trash cans. Put some water in it, and then drape a T̶V̶ t-shirt over your fermenting bucket, so that it sucks up the water.

The water evaporating off the t-shirt will keep the temps down inside your fermentation bucket. You can also throw a few frozen water bottles in the water to help even more. A fan blowing on it will also help, as it speeds up the evaporation.

If you've got some time and money to spend, go check out the fermentation chambers in the DIY section.
 
So to follow up...if you're brewing in the summer time in a non-central air cooled home where even the basement temp can get warm...what do people do to control their fermentation temperatures? Would you go so far as to place a bucket near an air conditioner?

Thanks guys for the knowledge.

Put together a swamp cooler. Add a fan to the set up. A fan blowing over a wet t-shirt can lower the temperature 10° to 15° depending on ambient temperature. Don't cover your thermo strip with the t-shirt. If you do it will show a much lower temperature than the wort actually is.
 
Swamp coolers are the poor mans choice. Get a large enough bucket to hold your fermentor (I got one at a local hardware store for $12), some people use trash cans. Put some water in it, and then drape a TV over your fermenting bucket, so that it sucks up the water.

The water evaporating off the t-shirt will keep the temps down inside your fermentation bucket. You can also throw a few frozen water bottles in the water to help even more. A fan blowing on it will also help, as it speeds up the evaporation.

If you've got some time and money to spend, go check out the fermentation chambers in the DIY section.

This dude wants you to use a TV to sop up the water in a bucket? You know how expensive TVs are today bro? ;)
 
DO SOMETHING, whatever method you may chose, to control fermentation temps. Swamp cooler, frozen bottles in a tub 'o water, fermentation fridge, etc. are all better than the no control that many brewers try (and mostly fail) to get away with.

Household temps that are typically maintained for us humans most of the year cause most ale yeast to, during active ferment, produce chemical by-products that do not taste good in beer once they hit a certain concentration. Some condition out over time, some do not.
 
I THINK you'd have been better off letting it sit warmer than letting it get cold after sitting for a few days. I've never started a ferm out so warm like that, but I seem to remember a brew strong episode where they say not to let the temp go down during fermentation if it started out for a day or two warm -only the other way... let it warm up after starting really cold. If I'm not mistaken, sitting warm will generate precursors and then going cold will floculate all your yeast out, leaving behind the precursors. But what's done is done.

The idea behind the swamp cooler is to increase the thermal mass of the beer - more thermal mass, the harder the ambient temp has to work to change the temp of the beer - think a swimmer pool vs a puddle in the sun... Actively cooling the swamp cooler with ice or fans and what not will provide even better resistance!

I just finished a hefe myself on Monday night. I'm using a swamp cooler with 3 1 liter frozen bottles and a fan blowing into the water. Its been sitting at 69 since Monday with no prob. I change the water bottles out for three new ones when I wake up and when I get home from work 10 hours later. No problems.
 
To clarify: an ice bottle bath and swamp cooler are two different processes, although they could be used together (as J187 is doing). The ice bottle bath is a heat sink in which the fermenter sits. The lower temperature of the ice bottle bath will cool the fermenter. A swamp cooler uses a wick (wet t-shirt) for evaporative cooling. Energy is required to evaporate the water which results in a lower temperature and cools the fermenter. Increasing airflow (a fan) or lower humidity will increase the evaporation rate and results in better cooling.
 
This follow up might be a little philosophical but so be it...

considering my warm home and also that making a swamp cooler doesn't seem like a big deal at all...

what I really want to start doing is brewing classic English Ale (because that's what I love), is it smarter to wait until the Autumn for better temps for this or is your opinion that's unnecessary with this basic form of cooling....

thoughts?
 
This follow up might be a little philosophical but so be it...

considering my warm home and also that making a swamp cooler doesn't seem like a big deal at all...

what I really want to start doing is brewing classic English Ale (because that's what I love), is it smarter to wait until the Autumn for better temps for this or is your opinion that's unnecessary with this basic form of cooling....

thoughts?

I say brew what you love now.

And then, brew it again in the Autumn.

If nothing else, you'll have made two batches of one of your favorite styles, while also perhaps being able to learn the differences between how they taste when fermented at different temperatures.
 
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